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REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 12 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1423420
Shared challenges to the control of complex intracellular neglected pathogens
Provisionally accepted- 1 Nuffield Department of Medicine, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom
- 2 Wadham College, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom
- 3 Department of Biology, Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
The complex intracellular pathogens Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae, Leishmania spp., and Burkholderia pseudomallei, which cause tuberculosis, leprosy, leishmaniasis, and melioidosis respectively, represent major health threats with a significant global burden concentrated in low-and middle-income countries. While these diseases vary in their aetiology, pathology and epidemiology, they share key similarities in the biological and sociodemographic factors influencing their incidence and impact worldwide. In particular, their occurrence in resourcelimited settings has important implications for research and development, disease prevalence and associated risk factors, as well as access to diagnostics and therapeutics. In accordance with the vision of the VALIDATE (VAccine deveLopment for complex Intracellular neglecteD pAThogeEns) Network, we consider shared challenges to the effective prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these diseases as shaped by both biological and social factors, illustrating the importance of taking an interdisciplinary approach. We further highlight how a cross-pathogen perspective may provide valuable insights for understanding and addressing challenges to the control of all four pathogens.
Keywords: Tuberculosis, Leprosy, Leishmaniasis, Melioidosis, intracellular pathogens, Vaccines
Received: 25 Apr 2024; Accepted: 13 Aug 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Perez, Chase and Tanner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Rachel Tanner, Department of Biology, Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Rebecca Perez
1,2